Thursday, April 30, 2015

Highland Mall closing

Today (April 30th) is the last day of business for the Highland Mall which opened in 1971. This mall has been covered here several times over the years. I have several photos from the final months it was in business and I will share those with the blog in the future. A small section of the mall might remain open to mall walkers, but the retail businesses will all be gone after tonight.  

Friday, April 24, 2015

Kmart Kileen Tx

Here we are at the Kmart in Kileen Texas. The fact that this Kmart store is still here is interesting. This store is about 3 hours away from the nearest Kmart store in Abilene Texas. There is a nearby Sears store at the Kileen Mall, but no other nearby Kmart. Kileen is a growing city with significant population growth over the past 50 years, but Kmart left several other growing Texas cities in 2003.
This is the electronics department view from the seasonal section. Halloween and Christmas were out filling most of this side of the store. 
Now into the electronics department. DVD's and music sections very well stocked. 
A view outside of the electronics department into the rest of the store. 
Camera cards, no display models to test out anymore.
The video game section was being cleared out company wide. These game cases have probably been removed by now.
Some scary fun going on this time of the year. 
The back aisle of the store near the garden shop.
The back corner of the store near the seasonal stuff with the electronics at the end of the aisle.
Grocery department near the pharmacy.
Towards the middle of the store near the groceries.
Garden shop.
More of the Garden Shop.
The back corner of the Garden shop was being used for clearance items. Check out this register in the Garden Shop which looked like it had not been used for years. 
Looking out the Garden Shop window, you can see the former Auto Center.
The road sign as seen from the Garden Shop window.
Now back to the store, here is the entrance to the Garden Shop.
A price scanner.
This section of the store is interesting, furniture, bathrooms, and a hidden clearance section. 
But first let me interrupt with a picture of the one of the main middle aisles of the store near the sporting goods. 
Here is the clearance section view of the furniture. 
Here is the hidden clearance section. 
More of the furniture section and another middle aisle that goes to the pharmacy.
The open area to the right is where the hidden clearance section is. 
Here are some views of the Men's department and some of the newer signage you will find at some Kmart stores these days.
The front of the store in Women's clothing. At the end of this aisle was the former restaurant. This was my first visit to this store, so I don't know if it was a Little Caesars or a typical Kmart Cafe.
NFL fan gear for about 10 different teams. Since people from all over the country move here for military training, Kmart brings in a wide variety of team sports products.
The checkouts.
The view from the checkouts across the front of the store. 
The DVD section was one of the better one's in a modern Kmart. 
New release music, from the early 2000's maybe. This display is often overlooked in Kmart stores. 
And yet another view of the electronics department. 
Housewares near the Pharmacy.
This store by the way did not have an old-school blood pressure monitor. It had a much newer model from probably about 10-15 years ago.
Now some better views of the outside of this Kmart. This store still has a labelscar from the Big Kmart logo that was previously here.
The roadsign.
One wide view of nearly the whole store.

Friday, April 17, 2015

New Orleans Riverwalk redevelopment quick update

Here is the last New Orleans post for a while. Here is a quick update about the Riverwalk Mall. This redeveloped mall had only been open for about two months on my visit. Over 70 million was invested into the mall to expand and remodel the entire structure. The mall reopened on May 22, 2014. 

The mall is very different than before, but some of the past is still there. A few stores came back to the mall that were there before and the river views are still prominent.
A few stores returned to the mall, but most of the stores are new to the mall. Some of the stores are new to Louisiana which speaks volumes about the prospects of this mall.
And now for the inside of the mall. As you can see it looks very nice, bright, and modern.

This is the lower level.
The second level
The upper level
The food court is very interesting, look at the huge ceiling fans. Sadly within about six months of opening, there was an assault in the new food court.